i. 



^72 LIFE-HISTORIES Ot BIRDS 



Their food consists of the seeds of grasses of 

 last year's growth which they procure in. their 

 accustomed haunts, besides various small insects 

 which venture forth at the season of their arrival. 

 We have detected remains of Cratonychus cinereus, 

 Harpahis compar, Casnonia pennsylvanica, Hal- 

 tica chalybea, of a coleopterous character, and Fpr- 

 niica sanguinea, and other species of ants. 



The flight of this species reminds us of that of 

 the Fox-colored Sparrow in being low, undulating, 

 and slightly sustained. Its ground movements 

 are strikingly characteristic of the same species. 



In Massachusetts it is only a summer resident, 

 in a few restricted maritime districts, according to 

 Dr. Brewer ; while in the West^ Mr. Allen says, it 

 rarely, if ever, stops to breed. In Western Maine, 

 Mr. Verrill states it to be a . common summer 

 occupant, and as breeding there in the latter part 

 of May. In the neighborhood of Eastport, and in 

 the Grand Menan group of islands, Dr. Brewer 

 affirms that they invariably nidificate in great 

 numbers, in the depressions on the margin, or just 

 under projecting bluffs of land close to the sea, 

 many nests being built in close proximity to each 

 other. They arrive there in April and retire in- 

 September, their departure being apparendy regu- 

 ■ lated more by the scarcity of food-stuffs than by 

 thermometric changes. 



Dr. Coues found this species quite abundant in 

 Labrador, in i860, where it fed on the beds of 

 eel grass, along the rocky shores, in company with 

 the small Sandpipers and the Titlarks. 



